Goodbye Gran'pa
by ThistleThorne
Summary: Sam leaps into a man dying of cancer what is he really there to do?


Sam blinked as the glow of the leap faded from his eyes and was hit immediately by a wave of intense pain. He nearly screamed aloud, but something held him back. He slowly focused his eyes and saw that he was lying in a hospital bed and an IV tube was running into his arm. If it was supposed to have a pain killer in it, it wasn't working very well. Sam turned his head slightly and saw what appeared to be two doctors. They were talking about his case.  
  
"So there's nothing more that can be done?" the first said.  
  
"Nothing, except make his final days more comfortable," was the answer. "I'll be speaking with his son and daughter in a half-hour."  
  
"Visitors?"  
  
"Immediate family only, and no children. It wouldn't do for his grandchildren to see him this way." The one opened the door and they both left the room.  
  
'They must have thought I was asleep,' Sam thought. 'I wonder what's wrong with me?' The opening of the Imaging Chamber door caused Sam to turn his head. The momentary pain nearly caused him to pass out, but he held onto consciousness by strength of will alone.  
  
"Hi ya, kid," Al said, his voice low. Al kept looking at his link, at the room around him, but never quite made eye contact with Sam.  
  
"What's the matter, Al?" Sam asked him. The first thing Al always did was make eye contact. It was almost as if that contact confirmed for him that his friend was really present.  
  
"The guy you leapt into, Sam. He was really hurting." Al stopped and took a puff on his ever-present cigar. "He thinks he's died already and that Dr. Beeks and I are angels or something." Sam smiled. If Al was anything, it wasn't an angel. "He's pretty upset, Sam. He wanted a chance to say goodbye to his kids and grandkids."  
  
"The doctors just left, Al. His kids might get to say goodbye to him, but not the grandchildren. The doctors aren't going to let them in here." Sam took a deep breath with some difficulty. "What's wrong with him, Al?"  
  
"Lung cancer," was the short reply. Al looked at his cigar momentarily, then dropped it. Sam was amused to see it disappear once it left Al's hand. "It's January 14, 1977 and your name is Fred Stewart and you're 64 years old. You live in Cleveland, Ohio with your wife, Maggie. Two children, a son and daughter and three grandkids, one girl and two boys. He took early retirement two years ago so that he could spend some time with his grandkids, but was diagnosed with the cancer a year ago. It didn't get really bad until just recently."  
  
"Any idea why I'm here?"  
  
"Nope. Ziggy's still working on it, but I thought you might like a little company."  
  
"Thanks, Al," Sam said with a smile. If nothing else, he could always count on Al to be there when he needed him.  
  
There was a small knock on the door and a head poled it's way around it below the level of the door handle. It was a little girl, no more than four or five. She had sandy brown hair and was wearing a purple winter coat with unicorns on it. Her eyes were very wide and Sam could see the gold tinted hazel color from across the room. He gestured for her to enter.  
  
"Where's my gran'pa?" she asked in a small voice. Sam turned to Al.  
  
"Well," Al said, moving to stand next to her. "He had to go away for a little while. He was hurting a lot and we thought it might be a good idea if he went away to get some real rest."  
  
The hazel eyes looked up at him, doubt clearly pictured there. "Daddy says that Gran'pa's going to heaven soon. Has he gone to heaven?" Al saw the beginning of tears in her eyes.  
  
"No, sweetie, not yet. Why don't you come and sit over here?" Al pointed to the chair that was next to the bed. Sam smiled at the little girl who smiled back shyly.  
  
"What's your name?" Sam asked her.  
  
"Kathy. What's yours?"  
  
"My name is Sam and this is Al," he answered her.  
  
"Where's my gran'pa?" she asked again. Sam looked over at Al. He'd let his friend handle this one.  
  
After a disgusted look at Sam, Al knelt in front of the little girl. "Your grandpa is in, umm, well, someplace else. He's not hurting and there are people there who are taking care of him. He...."  
  
Before the hologram could continue, the door to the room opened and a nurse came in. She saw Kathy immediately. "There you are. You know you shouldn't be in here," she told the child gently, and took her by the hand to take her out of the room.  
  
"But I wanna stay with Sam and Al," Kathy yelled as the door closed. Al winced as he heard the young girl starting to cry. He had a soft spot in his heart for women, age two minutes on up and an extra special spot for children and he hated seeing them hurt, for any reason.  
  
"Al, could she be the reason I'm here?" Al turned his attention back to Sam, a puzzled look on his face. "Maybe to help her understand what's happening?"  
  
"I don't know, Sam." Al pounded on the handlink which squealed angrily at him. "Ziggy hasn't come up with anything. It seems that Fred lived a pretty good life, no real problems. He's going to die in two days, but his family seems to manage okay after he's gone."  
  
"Al." Sam felt the tingle of the leap beginning. "Whatever I was here to do, I did it."  
  
"What?" Al looked down at the handlink again, reading the message scrolling across it. "This doesn't make sense, Sam. Nothing's changed."  
  
"Bye, Al." And Sam leaped.  
  
**********  
  
Al exited the Imaging Chamber, shaking his head in puzzlement. He dropped the handlink off with Gooshie and headed for the Waiting Room, just like he did every time Sam leaped. One of these times, he hoped to hear that Sam was back.  
  
The first person he saw was Dr. Lewis, one of the doctors who worked on the Project. She smiled at him as he approached her. "Sam's newest guest leaped out. He wanted me to tell you 'thank you.'"  
  
"Thank you for what?! Sam didn't change anything." Al saw the glimmer of something familiar in her eyes, but wasn't sure what it was.  
  
"Just thank you, Al." She headed off down the hall, but stopped just before she rounded a corner. "Don't forget, you promised me an evening I wouldn't forget tonight. Pick me up at 7 sharp." With that she disappeared.  
  
Al just shook his head in bewilderment and turned when the door opened once again. This time it was Verbena. "Is everything all right?"  
  
"Everything is fine, Admiral? Sam did a real good one this time."  
  
"What are you talking about?" This was starting to get to Al. He knew that nothing had changed and yet everyone around him was acting like something had. "He wasn't there long enough to even do anything. And according to Ziggy, nothing in the past was changed."  
  
"You're right, Al, nothing in the past was changed. But something did happen." Verbena smiled at Al's growing impatience. "Fred Stewart got to tell his granddaughter how proud his is of her and of all that she's accomplished."  
  
"You mean Kathy?" Al asked, remembering the brown haired little girl he'd briefly met.  
  
"Yes, except he did it here. Dr. Lewis was that little girl that you and Sam met. She's always wished that her grandfather could know what she's done with her life, and because of Sam, she got that chance." Verbena took of in the same direction Dr. Katherine Lewis had taken earlier. "Have fun on your date, Al," She called over her shoulder to a dumbstruck Al. 


End file.
